Free Falling
by saraqueens
Summary: This story is a romance between Hanna Marin and Gabriel Holbrook. In this story Hanna and Caleb never made up and they are not together. Also things will work a little different in this story than in the show. This story is rated M FOR SEXUAL CONTENT AND LANGUAGE. If you don't like this pairing please don't read. If you decide to give it a change, I hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My mom always told me not to tempt fate, so that small saying, or question that people usually asked themselves to feel better hadn't worked so well for me. I should have known better than to tempt fate, or in this case the bitch we called A. At this point I was feeling pretty stupid, after all I should have known better than to trust another cop.

You would have thought that after everything my friends and me have gone through we would have learned that no one was in our side except for us. For just a moment there I had really thought that he was one of the good guys, that he wanted to help us. After all he had helped Travis's dad. At the time it had seem like there was no ulterior motive, but now I knew better. He had been playing me, trying to get me to trust him and like an idiot I had fallen for it.

"You haven't listen to a word I've said" Aria's annoyed voice snapped me out of my self-punishing thoughts. I looked at Spencer and Emily, that were also looking at me with a worried on their faces and I felt myself flush. Aria let out a sigh "Hanna, this is important. We need you in this 100%"

"I'm sorry" after all it wasn't their fault that I was felling all messed up "I'm just worried about all the college stuff and the fight I had with my dad"

I still hadn't told them about the little encounter with detective Gabriel Holbrook. They would probably have a heart attack if they found out that not only did I hit him, but that I also gave him a piece of my mind. Like he wasn't dangerous enough, I had to know and give him more ammunition to hate us. It was just luck that someone hadn't seen us, having a "friendly discussion".

"We know that you have a lot of going on and believe me, we understand" Emily said looking at the others before continuing "but if we don't solve this A thing and get rid of that bitch, then we can say goodbye to our college dreams, or any dreams for that matter"

"I know and you have no idea how much I hate agreeing with you on this" I had to let them know that I was with them. After all if A opened her big mouth all of us were going down, without any hopes of coming back for air. I let out a frustrated sigh "Don't you guys miss being simple teenage girls? I'm so sick of all the secrets and the problems. I just want one normal day when I don't have to look over my shoulder"

"You are not the only one" Spencer snorted and threw the history book on her bed "I forgot what high school was supposed to be about. I always thought that my only worries in high school would be to get good grades, beat my sister and get into a good college. Now, none of that is going to happen. I'd be lucky if I get accepted at the community college"

"A has ruined all our lives" Aria stated the obvious once more "but I can't let that bitch do the same to Mike. He has nothing to do with, except for the fact that he is related to me, and I'll be damned if I let A bring my brother down"

"You don't have to worry Aria" I needed to focus more on the fact that there were more serious problems than me having feelings for a crooked cop. I took her hand and gave her a smile "We are with you on this. We won't let A ruin Mike's life"

"Thanks guys" Aria smiled, but I noticed that the smile didn't reach her eyes.

We spent the next hour making plans and trying to figure out a way to help Ali without going to jail ourselves. I didn't tell them I had gone and seen Alison earlier, I was sure they would find out sooner or later, but now I had no intention to have a two hour conversation about what had going on between me and Ali.

**_Next Day_**

I was happy that my mother had already left. I was glad that things between her and Ted had finally gone back to normal, but I really didn't want to be involved in all that happiness right now. My mom was on cloud 9 and I was really happy for her, but talking about wedding plans wasn't what I had in mind for Saturday morning.

Aria was dealing with her brother's situation today, especially after what she had found out about him and Monna. Spencer was handling her own drama with Toby and Emily had things going on with her new friend and I was not touching that one with a ten foot pole.

I had decided to stay at home and had a quiet day, I haven't had one of those in a while and I was entitled to one. I was supposed to meet Monna's friend later on and try to get more information out of her. She seem pretty nice, but I had learned my lesson. I wasn't trusting her until she did something to show me she was trust worthy.

My phone rang and I looked at it before deciding that whoever it was could wait. I was in the middle of preparing myself a bowl of cereal when I heard the doorbell. I groaned and shook my head. Why couldn't I just have a moment in peace?

I didn't even bother to ask who it was before I threw the door open. A soon as I saw the person on the other side of the door I wished I had taken a moment to ask. What the hell had I been thinking? I should have known better.

"What do you want?"

"Hello to you too" Gabriel Holbrook smiled sarcastically at me "Are you going to let me in?"

"Do I look like an idiot to you?" I kept talking before he had time to answer "We said all we needed to say to each other. I don't think that being seen here would help your reputation, I mean you are kind of screw up at the moment, so help yourself and leave"

"Believe me, you are going to want to hear what I have to say" he raised both hands palm out, like that was supposed to make him seen less scary. He raised an eyebrow "I swear I have no intention of harming you, all I want to do is talk and explain some things"

I really should say no and slam the door in his face, but apparently my mouth and brain weren't very well connected. I opened the door wider and moved aside to let him in.

"This better be worth my time" I closed the door as soon as he walked in and turned around to glare at him "Believe me, I have no problems hitting you again.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Pretty Little Liars. Thanks for reading the story. Just to let you guys know, I'm writing the story from my phone and there is a lot of autocorrect. I tried to fix most of it, but just in case I didn't get them all. Thanks for reading :)**

Chapter 2

What the hell had I been thinking? To be honest Gabriel hadn't done anything to make me want to throw him out. He seemed kind if worried, and I could have sworn that every time he looked at me he seemed almost guilty. I hated that even for a moment I felt bad for him. He didn't deserve anything from me and there was no way I was going to let him play me again.

"What did you want to talk about?" I couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Well, first of all I wanted to apologize" my eyes snapped up to him. That had been the last thing I've been expecting him to say. He seem to take pleasure in the fact that he had surprised me "I'm not a total jerk Hanna. Even if you don't believe me I do feel bad about deceiving you"

"Yeah well, feeling bad doesn't really help a lot" I wasn't letting him get off that easy "Even if you are really sorry and want to make things better, there is no way I would ever trust you again. To be honest, I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe in you. I should have known better, after all I had a lot of bad experiences with police officers"

"I know" he looked even guiltier now. Good, he should. He let out a sigh before speaking again "I know that gaining your trust, if that's even possible, won't be easy. But I need to try. I really have to talk to you and I want you to listen to me with an open mind"

"I let you in" that was all he could expect from me at the moment "that should let you know that I'll listen to you. Now, I can't promise that I'll believe anything you say"

"That's fair" He ran a hand through his hair "I had an ulterior motive to get close to Alison" I didn't say anything, just let him talk "She was the one that started things, but I gave her entry because I needed her to trust me. To let down her defenses, well at least to let them down as she could. I needed to be part of the inner circle, to know what was going on with her"

"Why? I mean don't get me wrong, we all know what an interesting person Alison is. You are not the first person to fall under her spell, but after all the things you know about her, why would you want to be close to her? To give her any kind of power over you?"

"I can't tell you that" I snorted, of course he couldn't. Had I really been expecting any different? "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you the reason why I needed her to trust me, but I need you to believe me when I say that she is not the one that killed Monna"

"What makes you think she didn't?" I couldn't tell him that I already knew the truth. That it had been A all along that I already knew that as evil as Alison was she had nothing to do with Monna's murder "She could be lying, after all that's what she is good at"

"Don't play dumb Hanna, we both know that you are not the dumb blonde that you make people believe you are" that took me by surprise, but this time I managed to keep my face blank "I know that you and your friends know that Alison is innocent of that crime, just like I know that you guys destroyed almost every proof that could prove her innocence"

"We had nothing to do with that"

"You know better and you know I'm not stupid" he walked closer to the kitchen counter and I felt my body tense, but he stopped before getting too close "I have proof of all this. I have proof that you and your friends destroyed all the evidence that could prove that Alison was innocent, just like I know that you guys are trying to help her without bringing down the entire Rosewood's police department on your heads"

"If you have proof of all this, then why haven't you turn it in?" There was no way that he would sit on that kind of information "Are you that in love with Ali? You would really jeopardize your future, just to save her?"

"No, you couldn't be more wrong. There is a reason why I haven't turn the proof in and I'm not going to. I can help you, but I will also need your help"

"My help?" this time I was the one that moved closed to him. I stopped when the tip of my flippers covered feet touched his dress shoes "What in the hell makes you think that I would ever help you with anything?"

"Because I can help you find out who A is" that actually made me stop for a moment. There was no way he was able to help me with that, and even if he did. It would be really hard to trust him again. He let out a breath "If you help me find what happened to Bethany and also the reason why Cece killed Wilden I can help you find out who A is. And not only that, I can also help you make sure that she goes away for life without bringing you and your friends down"

"Even if what you are saying is true, there is no way I can trust you"

"I know" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper "that's why I'm going to trust you first. Go to this address and you can take your friends too. Once you find out was inside then you can decide for yourself if trusting me is worth it or not"

I grabbed the paper he was holding out and he walked out before I could see anything. I opened the paper and found a key inside, there was also an address. Damn it, there went my peaceful Saturday.

It had taken me a while to convince Aria to come with me. Emily hadn't answered my texts, or calls and Spencer was still trying to solver her problems with Toby, so I hadn't bothered calling her. She would know what was going on soon enough.

"You are not going to try and empty this storage unit too, are you?" Aria was being sarcastic, but I could tell she was worried. She looked at the key in my hand then back at my face "How did you found out about this place and how did you get the key?"

"I found it when I went to the other storage unit with Caleb" the lie came out before I could stop it.

"I thought Caleb said you guys hadn't touched anything? Wasn't the storage room almost empty?"

"I found it and didn't tell Caleb" I couldn't tell Aria that Gabriel had given me the key and address. If I told her then I would have to explain why he had given it to me.

"I thought you trusted Caleb" Aria was like a dog with a bone, apparently she didn't noticed my annoyance and kept going "I mean considering that you guys aren't together anymore"

"We are friends and I do trust him, but at the time we were in a hurry" I unlocked the door and looked at Aria before opening it "Now let's stop talking and find out what's in here"

This time I didn't give her the chance to say anything to agree or disagree before opening the door. It was completely empty. Aria walked in and looked around, while I stood in the same spot glaring at the empty space like it was its fault. I could feel my blood boiling. Why would Holbrook give me the address and a key for a storage unit that was empty? If he was trying to play me I was going to make him wish he was never born.

"Well, this was a waste of time" I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but I was pretty sure Aria could still hear it "is completely empty"

"No is not" Aria said before walking to one of the rom corners. When she turned around she was holding a manila envelope "Apparently someone left us a gift"

Ok, so maybe beating Gabriel could wait for a bit. I moved next to Aria so I could see what was inside the envelope. When she pulled out a stack of pictures our eyes widened.

"Is that Wren?" I took the picture from Aria "what the hell is he doing?"

"Apparently he is having secrets with red coat" Aria answered before looking inside the envelope once more.

The pictures showed Wren talking with a blonde woman in a red coat. The angle of the picture didn't show her face, but we could see some of her blonde hair.

"She is too tall to be Alison" I said pointing at the picture "but she looks the same height as Cece"

"Yes, but Cece left the country" Aria said before unfolding a piece of paper "Wait, according to this she came back"

Aria handed me the paper. It was a plane ticket. The date was from two weeks ago.

"Vivian Darkbloom?" I asked looking at the ticket "Ali said she hadn't talked to Cece in a while"

"Yeah well, we know that Alison is an expert at lying" it was hard to argue with that "and apparently Cece is not the only one who cut her vacation short"

"Let me guess" I said without looking away from the pictures "Wren"

"Bingo, he is been in the Sates for 3 weeks. I wonder if Spencer knows."

"I doubt it. Knowing her, she would have said something by now"

I kept flipping the pictures and my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw the last one. Damn this was going to be a blow.

"Umm… Aria" she looked at me and I could see the worry in her eyes "Apparently Wren wasn't hiving meetings with just red coat"

"What do you mean? Who else would help that moro…." I turned the picture so she could see it and her eyes widened even more, if that was possible. Her voice sounded terrified "Mike? Why is Wren meeting with my brother?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I can't believe he is been in the Sates for weeks and having meetings with wanna be criminals" Spencer said annoyed. She looked at Aria when she said the wanna be criminals thing and looked apologetic "I'm sorry, I wasn't talking about your brother"

"We still have to consider the possibility" Emily said and then took a step back when we turned to her. She help up her hands "well I'm just saying that we should find out what he was doing having secret meetings with a sociopath"

"Nice one Em" Aria said before taking her jacket "Don't worry I'll have a talk with my brother, not need to throw him in jail yet"

Aria walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her. I kind of understood where she was coming from, it was like the time I had suspected my mom of having murder Wilden and it hadn't been easy. But Emily was also right, we needed to find out why Mike was having secret meetings with Wren and why he was acting so weird. We all knew that he had thought that Monna was alive, but he didn't suspect that anymore.

"I can't believe none of us knew Wren was back in the country" Emily said.

"I don't think we were supposed to find out" said Spencer while looking at the plane tickets "He came back from England a week before Cece returned.

"This is just great" Emily said sarcastically "like we didn't have enough problems trying to help Alison, now we have to worry about Mike, Wren and Cece"

"I think Ali knew" they looked at me, so I told them my theory "The day of the ice ball Ali disappeared. We never saw her again that night. There is no way Cece came back without Ali knowing"

"Why would she hide it?" asked Spencer "I get why she wouldn't tell us before, since we were all against her, but now that we are trying to help her. Why wouldn't she tell us about Cece?"

"Because she still doesn't trust us" Emily answered like it was most obvious thing in the world "After all we are the ones that helped put her in jail. She is not going to just give us all the information for free"

"I for once don't plan to sit around and wait" I stood up from the bed and grabbed my purse "I will leave, all this can wait until tomorrow morning. I think my brain is shutting down from all the puzzles and the thinking. I'll see you guys later"

I waited until I was out of Spencer's house before I pulled out my phone. I knew that my mother was not going to be home. She had texted me earlier to let me know that she would be spending the night with Ted.

I needed to find out why Mike was meeting with Wren and what was going on with red coat. I knew that if we didn't find out soon Aria would try to do things her own way and I didn't want her to have a fight with her brother based on suspicions. I knew that she was scared and didn't want to believe that he could be one of the bad guys. After all she had been wrong about him once before, and I knew for a fact she didn't want to make the same mistake again.

**'****Fine, you get one chance. Meet me at my house ASAP, we need to talk.**'

I pressed send before I could regret it. He was the only one that could give me the answers I needed.

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I kept pacing back and forth, I couldn't stop myself, the not knowing was killing me. I now knew the reason why I liked all those mystery novels so much. I had always liked mystery, but just so I could solve it and when I couldn't it drove me insane and made me obsess over it.

The knock on the kitchen door made me jump and turned around, even thought I knew who it was. I walked closer and opened the door. He walked in without waiting for an invitation, but that was alright. I knew that we weren't supposed to be seen together.

"I'm here like you asked" he smiled and it kind of knocked my breath out of my chest and I scolded myself for it. Bad person, that's all I had to think about, he was a bad person "Did you find the gift I left you?"

"You know I did, otherwise you wouldn't be here right now"

"That's what I like about you, so much than just a pretty face" He moved toward the table and looked at the picture of Mike and Wren "I'm guessing you want to ask about your friend's little brother"

"Why was he there? I know that Wren is not the nicest person, or an honest one" I moved closer to him "Why was Mike meeting Wren? What could Wren have that could interest Mike?"

"Information about his missing, dead girlfriend" that stopped me right in my tracks "you have no idea what someone will do if you give them a little bit of hope, or tell them what they want to hear"

"Are you saying that Mike still believes that Monna is alive?" I realized what I said and resisted the urge to cover my mouth. I was sure that if we had found out about Monna's plan so had he "I thought he finally realized she was dead, that he had given up"

"Yeah, that's what he wanted you guys to think"

"What did Wren had that made him believe otherwise?" He didn't say anything and after a minute I let out a sigh "Please Gabe, I need to know why Mike is helping Wren"

To be honest the name slipped out and I didn't even noticed until Gabe turned around. I could see the surprised on his face and I couldn't help the blush that covered mine. I hadn't even been thinking before I said it and I was probably reading too much into his reaction. There was no way he cared what the hell I called him, but after a minute of looking at me he finally answered.

"To be honest I don't think Mike is helping him, yet" ok that sounded good, at least there was still hope "As you can see the pictures were taken from far away and it not like I could hear a lot of the conversation. They were arguing and none of them looked happy. I think that Mike won't do anything until Wren shows him some kind of proof that Monna is alive"

"Can he do that? Show him proof that Monna is alive?" I couldn't help but hope that for once Wren was right. I would give anything if they could bring Monna back "how can we be sure?"

"We can't and I'm not saying that Monna is alive, but Mike seems to think she is" he finally let go of the picture and gave me his full attention "I don't know what Wren told him, but whatever it was Mike didn't do it because Wren called Cece for help"

"So that's why Cece came back?"

"No, by the time Wren called her she was already here" he crossed his arms over his chest and I my gaze couldn't help get stuck there until his next words snapped me out of it "Cece came back because Alison called her and asked for her help"

"Her help with what?"

"With you guys" that kind of creeped me out. Gabriel looked at me like he was waiting for something and after a minute he confirmed my suspicions "Cece was supposed to help Alison deal with you guys"


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the reviews. Forgive the grammar errors. My phone keeps autocorrecting the words and I try to catch them all, but some escape me. Enjoy.**

Chapter 4

This was getting weirder and weirder. The more we found out the more twisted and confusing things got. I had no idea what to believe. We had proof of the secret meetings Wren, Mike and Cece, well at least who we thought was Cece. There was no way Aria was going to let anything happen to her brother and it wasn't like we could ask her to.

"There has to be something we can do to get Mike out of this" I was still pacing and Gabe was just sitting at the table looking at me like I was crazy. He hadn't said anything since he had told me about what Ali had been planning with Cece "There is no we can let Wren and Cece, or red coat get away with pinning all this stuff on Mike"

"From everything we've talked about and everything you have learned, you are only worried about what can happen to Mike?" he sounded surprised.

"Of course I'm worried about Mike" I threw my hands up in the air "He is Aria's baby brother and she has lost too much already thanks to A"

"You do realize that A could pin all of this on you?" I wanted to roll my eyes, of course I knew that. It wasn't like A hadn't done that before "Aren't you worried that Ali was conspiring against you?"

"No, Ali is in jail. She can't do anything to us now" I stopped pacing for a moment and just looked at Gabe "Right now Ali needs us. We are the ones that destroyed all the evidence that could save her and we are the ones that can find proof to get her out"

"What makes you so sure that you guys can prove her innocence?"

"Because we've done it before" it was weird to talk to him about all this. Part of my mind kept thinking that he was still a police officer and could get me in a lot of trouble "Believe me, this isn't the first time A has framed one of us for something we didn't do. We have always found a way out of it. This time is not going to be any different"

He just kept looking at me like he had never seen me before and it was making me feel self-conscious. I had to admit that I liked the way he looked at me sometimes, like he could eat me up. It also made me feel nervous.

"You are always surprising me" I raised an eyebrow. I had no idea what he was talking about. He just smiled at me "I can't believe that you can be so selfless, is hard to find people like that. When I first met you I have to admit I thought you would be completely different"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you cared more about how you looked and what kind of clothes you wore than about your friends" he shook his head, like the idea was stupid and it made me feel better that he didn't see me as shallow anymore "kind of like Alison"

"Alison was always making us feel inferior, you would never notice because she would make it seem like she was trying to help you, that it was for your own good" thinking about it now I could see that even if A was a bitch she had been honest in one thing. Alison had treated us like her personal dolls and she had never seen us as real, we had been her special project "For her we were just her property, something she owned and made her special. Her own set of followers. After she "died" and things started to change, I promised myself that I would never treat someone else like she had treated us"

"Alison has lied to a lot of people" he stood up and stood moved close to me "is going to be hard to find someone that will be able to believe her. If she goes to court they may sentence her to life in prison"

"But she is not guilty" I touched his arm and resisted the urge to shiver when an electric shock ran from where my hand was touching him all the way up to my shoulder "You said that you wanted to prove to me that you weren't trying to help Alison, or A, or whoever and I have to admit you did gave us some information"

"I don't think I'm going to like what you are going to say next" he said with a weary look.

"I need you to help me" I knew that by doing this I could get in trouble with Aria, Emily and Spencer. They didn't trust him and to be completely truthful I didn't trust him completely yet. He had lied to me and that wasn't something I could just get over it, but I also knew that he was the only one that would be able to help me "We need to find out what is really going on between Mike, Wren and Cece. The only way we can do that is if we work together"

"Really?" I narrowed my eyes at his sarcastic tone "and what do you think your friends will say when they find out we are working together?"

"They don't have to know" I was actually counting on the fact they wouldn't find out "they can't know about this. I don't want them involved in this, just in case it blows in my face"

"What do you think I can help you with?" he crossed his arms over his chest and I moved mine away. I had forgotten that I was still touching him "If you haven't noticed I was fired from the force, there is nothing much I can do"

"Don't give me that crap. The pictures you showed me let me know that even if you are not in the force anymore you are still investigating what happened to Mona" I took one of the pictures on the table and looked at him "Please, I know you can help me find out what really happened. Mona was my friend and I need to know what happened to her"

He just looked at me for like seem like hours. I was scared that he would say no and that he was working for A. I hadn't told him, but one of the reasons I wanted him to help me was because I needed to find out if he was working with A. I was still trying to find a way to convince him when he finally let out a sigh.

"Fine, I will help you find out about A" he moved toward the kitchen door and opened it. He looked back at me "Don't do anything until I get in contact with you. I mean that Hanna, it could be dangerous if you go out by yourself"

"I won't do anything without letting you know" he looked at me for a while longer "I promise"

The way he was looking at me made me feel very warm and tingly. His eyes were very warm and it kind of made me forget that he had betrayed my trust. Before I could make a mistake and a fool out of myself he walked out and closed the door behind him. I was in so much trouble.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Spencer kept looking at me like she could see right through me and it was making me nervous. It had been a week since I had talked to Gabe and he still hadn't call me. He had texted me once to let me know that he was working on what I had asked him, but he needed a bit more time. I had actually kept my promise and tried not to do anything dangerous, but my friends were starting to think something was wrong. I had been the more interested and finding out who A was and now all of a sudden I had stop investigating. That had to raise some suspicion.

Aria had been trying to talk to Mike, but he was not talking to her, he had refused to say anything about Mona, Cece, or Wren. Aria was losing patience and she was at the end of her rope. I hoped that Gabe would have found something by now.

"He just stares at me like he doesn't know who I am" Aria's voice snapped me out of thoughts "I have no idea what to do or how to talk to him"

"Did you show him the pictures?" Emily asked, we all wanted to know the answer to that "or did you just asked him why he was meeting with Wren and Cece?"

"I didn't show him the pictures, I couldn't" Aria answered looking at me "Hanna kept the pictures"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that showing him the pictures would help" I told them, there was no way I was letting Aria take the pictures to her house. Someone could steal them, or even Mike and I didn't want him incriminating himself because he was being an idiot "The pictures are in a safe place, that way there is no danger of anyone finding them and Mike getting in trouble"

"Since when is anyplace safe from A?" Spencer asked me "We have tried before and she always finds whatever it is that we are trying to hide"

"Believe me, she won't find this" nobody knew about the safe place and I wasn't telling anyone "I will keep them until we find why was Mike meeting with them"

"I don't like this, we are always keeping secrets and it always ends bad for us" Emily stated the obvious, none of us liked to keep secrets, but most of the time we didn't have a choice "My mom doesn't trust me anymore, I feel like I'm walking on eggshells all the time"

"I know what you mean" Spencer sighed "my parents treat me like a criminal and I'm not even going to mention Melisa"

"I thought things with her were better, now that you knew about what she did" I said knowing that the relationship between Spencer and Melisa was a lot better than it had been six months ago "Did something else happened?"

"No, but is really hard to look my sister in the face when I'm keeping secrets about her boyfriend" she answered and even if I didn't like it I had to agree with her on this "I have no idea what to say to her half the time. Is a good thing that our conversations are only by phone, I have no idea what I would do if I had to talk to her in person"

"Weren't your parents thinking about sending you to England" Aria asked.

"Yes, but that's not a sure thing yet" Spencer had been trying to make things better since she didn't have a lot of chances getting into a good college thanks to A "My mom is still working in getting me an interview"

My phone beeped and I looked at my friends before looking at it. Their attention was on me and I had to work very hard not to show any emotion. It was a text from Gabe and for once I was happy and at the same time nervous. I couldn't say it was A because then I would have to show the girls and I couldn't say it was Gabe because then I would be in the inquisition.

**'****I have some information that we should look into. If you don't want to meet at my apartment find out a place we can meet and talk without anybody overhearing us'**

Finally, of course I didn't say that out loud, but I couldn't help letting out a sigh. This was the first clue in a long time and I was dying to know what it was. I typed back my answer to him.

**'****I think my house will be safe because my mom is supposed to be out with Ted, but I'll talk to her to make sure and then I'll let you know'**

I didn't have to wait for the answer for very long. A second after I sent the text my phone beeped again.

**'****OK'**

I put my phone back in my purse and looked up to see the girls looking at me expectantly. If I didn't say anything it would be weird and make them suspicious. So I smiled at them.

"It was my mom, she wants me to pick up something for dinner" I was really hoping they would believe me "she is going out with Ted tonight"

"Then, do you want to meet at my house?" Spencer asked and I resisted the urge to flinch "we have to plan what we plan to do about Mike. We need to make sure we follow him next time he meets with Wren and Cece"

"I would love to, but I have a lot of things to do" they all looked at me like I was high or something. Damn it, this was harder than I thought it was going to be "I have to prepare some stuff for the college financial aid office. Now that my dad is not going to help me pay for college I have to apply to every scholarship and loan program that I can find"

"You are ditching a chance to figure out what's going on with my brother for financial aid applications?" Aria asked like she couldn't believe it.

"I'm sorry, but this is important" I felt bad, really bad for lying to them, but I had to figure out what was happening before any of us could get any deeper into this A trap "This school is my only chance to get out of Rosewood and I'm not about to give that up"

I really felt bad about lying to them, but I didn't want them involved in this, they were already in enough trouble as it was and if this went down the toilet there was no way I was taken them down with me.

**PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP**

I had to admit that after having seen Wilden's apartment Gabe's was not what I had been expecting. It was super clean and it didn't have any pictures or any personal stuff. He was standing in front of the fridge starting at something inside.

"Are you one of those clean freaks?" the question was mostly out of nervousness than anything else. I couldn't help but flush when he turned around and raised an eyebrow, an amuse look on his face. I wanted to smack myself "Is just that your apartment is so clean and you are a guy"

"I'm a guy" the way he said sounded like he was making fun of me and I just wanted to stick something in my mouth to make myself stop talking. He shook his head "Does the fact that I'm a guy mean that I have to be pig?"

"No" I needed a topic change, fast "What did you wanted to show me?"

He walked to the desk against the wall and opened one of the drawers. He moved some stuff around and then pulled out an old fashioned tape recorder. He sat down beside me and put the tape on the coffee table.

"What's that?" I asked him.

"This is one of the tapes found in Mona's room" he pressed the eject button and there was a cassette inside the recorder "it was very well hidden"

"Did the police found this?" that also didn't make sense. If the police had found this why did he have it? "Why do you have it?"

"The police didn't found the tape, but this can prove Allison's innocence"

"What? How did you get this?" he pressed the play button and Mona's voice filled the room. She was talking someone else, but it was hard to recognize the voice. He pressed pause and looked back at me "Who is she talking to?"

"She was talking to A, or one of her minions"

"How can this prove that Allison is innocent?"

"Whoever Mona was talking to was talking to her about how the police was investigating Allison for her death" my eyes widened "They talked for a while and then the conversation ended abruptly"

"What I don't get is how this got back to Mona's room?" it didn't make any sense that she had just went back to her house "let's say that she had a reason to go back to her house. How did she get in without anybody seeing her? After her supposed death the police were all over her house, especially in her room. Why would she leave this?"

"I don't know and I have no idea why she went back to her house or even if she was the one that went back?" I reached for the tape, but he grabbed my hand before I could reach it "Cece was the one who had this"

"Then how do you know she got it from Mona's room?"

"She told me" my gaze snapped back to his face. He took a deep breath "I supposedly still working for A"

"What do you mean you are supposedly working for A?" I pulled my hand away from his and stood up. I needed space "How can you be working for A? After all that bitch has done to my friends and me? After all the torture we been through"

"Hanna, I'm not really working for A" he stood up and moved until he was standing in front of me so I was forced to look at him "I need to make A think that I'm working, for her or him. That's the only way to find out the truth"

"That's even worse that really working for A" he was insane and I wanted to kill him "Do you know what A does to people that double cross her? Well, let me tell you that is not fun. I can't believe that being a cop you would do something so stupid. You could end up dead like Wilden"

"I'm not going to make those same mistakes" he grabbed my shoulders before I could turn around and I tried to stop the tingling that spread from where he was touching me "but is nice to know you worry about me"

"I worry about everybody and you are helping me so it would be bad if all of a sudden you disappeared" and maybe if I kept telling that to myself I would actually start believing it "I need that tape. That's the only way we can prove that Ali is innocent"

"I know but you can't take to the police"

"What? Why not?" was he insane? This was what all the investigating was about "Of course I can. I need to"

"No Hanna" his hands tightened a bit on my shoulders, it wasn't painful, but the fact that his face was now really close to mine "If you take this to the police you would have to explain how you got it and believe me when I tell you that they wouldn't believe it"

"That's not…."

"Hanna" now I could feel his breath on my face "no, you are not taking this to the police and that's my final decision. I'm not letting you put yourself in A's spotlight. You are not putting yourself in danger any more than you already have"

If I leaned just a bit then we would be kissing. This was dangerous, he had lied to me once and there was no proof that he wouldn't do it again. I seriously needed to get a grip. I leaked my lips and saw his eyes follow the movement. He leaned forward and I almost fell on my ass trying to get away from him.

"I will find a way to cut some of the tape out. Some of the stuff there could be used to incriminate you and your friends" he cleared his throat "Once I have doctored the tape I will figure a way to make sure the police gets it"

All I could do was nod. I really needed to get away from him, at least for a little bit. Next time we were going to meet in a more neutral place, where I didn't have to be alone with him and be afraid of doing something stupid, like jumping him. What the hell was wrong with me?


End file.
